House Democrats launch social media competition

{mosads}Participation is up this year from last year, and includes 75 percent of House Democrats who are on Twitter, 94 percent on Facebook and 93 percent on YouTube, according to numbers provided by Hoyer’s office. Only members with official accounts, not including campaign accounts, can participate in the contest.

This year, Hoyer’s staff plans to urge competitors along with a digital scoreboard that illustrates progress with racing donkeys.

Stephen Dwyer, director of online communications and technology for Hoyer, told AllFacebook.com that the scoreboard uses the open APIs of the three social media platforms to depict competitor progress.

The scoreboard is available on the caucus’s private intranet for offices to keep track of who is in the lead during the three-week competition.

All members start the competition at a zero baseline, so the competition only measures how many new Twitter followers, Facebook fans and YouTube subscribers members acquire during the three-week period, regardless of the number with which they started.

House Republicans have held two new media contests, with this year’s round concluding in June. Rep. John Fleming (La.) won both competitions.